Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Klara and the Sun review reveals the film beautifully merges high touch with high tech, to emerge gently, humorously soothing.

I haven’t been this excited about a book adaptation since Project Hail Mary.

I think every bookclub on the planet read Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s prescient novel, published in 2021 and long listed for the prestigious Booker Prize. A mere five years ago, viable AI robotic friends and caretakers were but a glint in a tech wizard’s eye.

But a mere five years later, they’re every child and senior’s fantasy…and nightmare.

I found the book masterful, wistful, thoughtful and beautiful, and couldn’t help but speculate about the film adaptation. As with most female-forward novels, my mind went first to female directors — Greta Gerwig, perhaps, who is not unfamiliar with literary adaptations? No, another doll in a box movie would be redundant. Sofia Coppola might give it some fun grit and edge, or Chloe Zhao could have added emotional gravitas like no other.

New Zealand’s Taika Waititi, whose cinematic works including Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jojo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok delight me, and whose small screen endeavors like Reservation Dogs, What We Do In the Shadows and Our Flag Means Death, show daring, cheeky edge, didn’t even make my perspective list.

But when I read that he picked the book up as an “airport read” prior to a flight and immediately recognized it as a major work, I realized that he ‘got’ it, so to speak. “I thought the novel told a beautiful and simple story about a character who was an outsider, observing and then integrating into a family,” he remembered. “Most of my stories are about people who live on the outside, and Klara and the Sun was a unique way of seeing the world and of seeing us.”

When I read that quote, I knew Ishiguro’s novel was in good hands. Waititi actually consulted the author while working on the script.

The announcement that producer David Heyman was involved also bolstered my hope for the film. In addition to Barbie, he produced a few of my other favorites, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, Jay Kelly, Gravity and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

Klara and the Sun review — Location, location, location

Filming on New Zealand’s South Island, where I’ve spent some of the most memorable days of my life, with it’s rolling hills of wheat, lush waterfalls and dazzling sun, was a unique Waititi touch I hadn’t expected. The location gave him access to actors and settings off the beaten path, that take viewers out of their own worlds and into the world created for the film.

Casting Jenna Ortega as Klara was another stroke of genius. We’re finally able to see her stretching beyond her creepy, kookie, mysterious and spooky range. As Klara, she is lovely, innocent, optimistic and consummately moving. She, like the film, is comforting in a way — it’s nice to see a version of an AI robot that’s naive, friendly, helpful and yes, even loving. Heaven knows we’re seeing enough of violent, tyrannical, unfeeling robots taking over the world.

Steve Buscemi, Natasha Lyonne and Amy Adams also get to show their softer, sometimes whimsical sides, and Michael Giacchino’s gentle, sweet score, if bordering on nursery-like at times, adds an extra, emotional layer without being too cloying.

In essence, this story of a dated, quirky, solar-powered friend robot trying to fit in with the family she’s been given, trying to find her place in the world and understand the the power that drives it all, is quite relatable. We’ve been in Klara’s shoes at one point or another.

Could Klara’s relationship with the sun—praying to it, adoring it, depending on it and sometimes losing faith in it, represent a human belief in God? That’s up for you to decide.

While the film is not perfect — timing is a bit off and comedy doesn’t always hit home, one of the aspects I found most engaging about the film is the depiction of a world in which AI develops in Klara’s direction, and is not the monstrous and maniacal juggernaut we hear about so often. If only… I’ll take all the comfort in that space I can get, no matter how brief and naive.

In these unforeseeable times AI caretakers may outnumber human ones, I like to think of a companion that is inclined to bond with me and consider my emotional and physical needs, rather than one that will ship me off to the Soylent Green factory as soon as I’m no longer productive. Call me sentinental, but a film that paints an optimistic picture, even if it’s not perfect, is worth a trip to the cineplex.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 56 Minutes

If this Klara and the Sun review encourages you to skip on over to the cineplex, get showtimes and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Klara and the Sun review reveals the film beautifully merges high touch with high tech, to emerge gently, humorously soothing.